Citrix PVS 7.6 Install – Introduction

In October 2014, Citrix released version 7.6 of both XenApp and Provisioning Services. A few weeks after the release, I created a 8 part step-by-step series on how to install and configure Citrix XenApp 7.6. If you missed it you can see it here >> Citrix XenApp 7.6 Install Guide.

At the time I promised that I would make a similar guide for the installation and configuration of Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6. Well here it is….

What is Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Citrix Provisioning Services product, here is the definition from the Citrix Product Documentation:

The Provisioning Services infrastructure is based on software-streaming technology. This technology allows computers to be provisioned and re-provisioned in real-time from a single shared-disk image. In doing so, administrators can completely eliminate the need to manage and patch individual systems. Instead, all image management is done on the master image. The local hard-disk drive of each system may be used for runtime data caching or, in some scenarios, removed from the system entirely, which reduces power usage, system failure rates, and security risks.

In other words, Citrix PVS is simply a master image (of either a server or a workstation) which is streamed to multiple target devices in a shared read-only mode. Traditionally we manage an image for each device (server or workstation) that we have deployed. The benefit of PVS is that we only need to manage a single image, and PVS will stream that image to all other devices.

Predominately Citrix Provisioning Services is used in either a XenApp environment in order to provision Citrix application servers that host published applications; or in a XenDesktop environment in order to provision VDI machines that are then made published to clients.

If you are interested in more information about Citrix PVS or the new features in 7.x then check out these links:

Environment Overview

Following an install guide can sometimes be a pain because you don’t always understand the underlying environment and therefore it can be difficult to comprehend how it fits into their infrastructure. This then makes it harder when trying to replicate it in yours.

In an attempt to ease the pain of reading, understanding and using this guide, I thought I would create a diagram that shows how Citrix PVS 7.6 will fit in my existing test lab.

The diagram shows the communication between the PVS environment and the existing infrastructure. This communication has been categorised and colour coded so that it is easier to understand.

The diagram also documents the high-level steps (1 to 4) on how the target devices connect and stream the PVS image from the Provisioning Services server.

If you have any questions or comments around Citrix Provisioning Services, my diagram, my test lab environment or any of the articles in the following series then let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.